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Recipes are primary sources, and like other primary sources, they can tell us many things about the past: what resources were available to a particular group, that group's economic status, what daily life was like in that time period, what was valued by a particular cultural group and so much more. In this lesson, students read and analyze an 18th-century ice cream recipe and use critical thinking, inferences, and prior knowledge to answer a variety of questions that require reading, math and historical knowledge, in flexible, cooperative groups. More

Most ice cream molds were made of pewter. Molds in the shapes of other foods, such as fruits, asparagus, and fish, were very popular. Some molds were more non-descript ornate shapes. Ice cream would be packed tightly into the mold to form the shape. More

"... after which came a Dessert no less Curious; Among the Rarities of which it was Compos'd, was some fine Ice Cream which, with the Strawberries and Milk, eat most Deliciously."

From the Journal of William Black, William Black, R. Alonzo Brock, Thomas Lee and W. Beverley. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1877, p. 126.

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The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is offering the blended course, Teaching with Exhibits in History/Social Studies, June 22-July 24. This course instructs teachers on using museum exhibits in the classroom as an interdisciplinary and interactive strategy. For more information, please visit The College of William & Mary's registration site. To register, search for this course title, "Tch w/ Exhibts in Hstry/SocSci - 30742 - EDUC V63 -05."Learn more about our Online Learning offerings.

Presidents, members of Congress, and Supreme Court justices from the past two centuries compete in a baseball game unlike any you've ever seen. Discover how the rules laid out in the U.S. Constitution preserve the balance of power between the three branches of the U.S. government: the executive, legislative, and judicial.More

Historical fiction for grades 4-6 by award-winning author Joan Lowery Nixon. Capture your students' imagination with these hardback books about real children in 18th-century Williamsburg. This set contains all six books. More